Review: God of War Ascension (PS3)

genre: hack and slash, action, adventure

This article was originally written on 03-05-2012.

So
it took me a while to digest this news. And I still am baffled. So here
is an epic story based single player game that now is going to be raped
since the developers think it will be a good idea to implement
multiplayer. Come again? Multiplayer in God of War.Why? Why? Why? There is absolutely no need for it. To have this as as an option is fine. Not that I would ever touch it since I am maybe one of the few on this planet who has never played and probably never will play any multiplayer no matter how good it is. It simply doesn't appeal to me. But it has been said that the single player already cut short. What even shorter? God of War 3 already was merely 6-8 hours of game play. And because of multiplayer it will be less than that.That is just crazy!

Edit: 11-12-2014Apparently I was very angry about the multiplayer. Let's put it in context shall we. A hack and slash title like God of War mostly is about one man or woman who is put against an overwhelming number of enemies but because of certain skills and abilities still manages to beat them. Add to that a compelling story and you have a game I usually really enjoy playing. Multiplayer removes this. It becomes something entirely different from what I like about hack and slash. Plus this is only put in since it was and still is all the rage with a majority of (especially) the younger gamers. I could not care less about multiplayer. Sure I understand that sometimes it might be appealing to play against others but that is the thing though. You need other players to play it. I like to have freedom to play a game whenever I can or feel like it. I don't want to wait or search for people online and then hope there will be enough to finally have fun. Sure there are enough games that always will have people online like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. And let those exactly be games I have zero interest in. So for me to have this into a game like God of War is something I simply find hard to stomach.

I don't need multiplayer.

Edit 14-03-2013:

Seems like some of my worries have come true. The focus of Ascension is put on multiplayer which seems to be excellent. The single player while still decent (and not shorter) according to some feels lacklustre and flawed. Read about it in this article.

Edit 11-12-2014:I finally got to play this game myself. And I wanted to report my findings of this game. Was I harsh to judge? Unfair maybe? Well, let's get to it.Unfortunately my predictions were right on the money. The single player game is removed of soul and passion. It feels like a derived version of God of War 3. Where everything looks top notch and incredibly beautiful visually but where the basic elements we loved about the game have been altered to a point that I struggled in places to find it enjoyable.In previous games you got rewarded with extra abilities that you could use whenever you wanted as long as your magic meter contained energy. This gave you an edge with more difficult sections or enemies. So if you chose to you could use it strategically. Now that option is removed. You first have to fill up the rage meter. Then avoid getting hit because one hit and rage meter gets down and then you could use magic or rage powers. And once combat is over the rage meter goes down again so there is no way of holding on to it. I mean really? At one point I stopped trying to avoid the enemies because how could I if the camera zooms out and all I see is tiny Kratos. For me the fun aspect of the combat was removed. In case some game developers are reading this. If you want to introduce a mechanic where blocking and avoiding is important then please make sure to design a control system like say for example used in Ninja Gaiden or the original Devil May Cry series especially DMC 3. It's among the best I have seen. You need tight controls. Once you get used to the altered combat system you are subjected to a storyline that is as appealing as watching a painted wall dry. Honestly the one thing that made me appreciate God of War so much is how they used Greek Mythology and how they were able on to visualizing some of it. You actually felt you were in ancient Greece at the mercy of angry gods and titans. It made you understand Kratos so much better even if he was a tad ruthless and violent. This story does not compel at all. And is more thrown in to tie up game play sequences. Even then I wasn't entirely sure why the Furies were such a threat. Sure it got mentioned they were to be feared and such. But we heard that say of every God and Titan in the franchise and Kratos dealt with all of them like a boss. Even in his days before he got angry a man with skills like that surely could deal with lower level entities. But wait there was a new mechanics introduced that is new and interesting. The option to heal or decay old buildings and contraptions. This really could have compensated if they actually tried to make good and logical puzzles. Most puzzles felt very random and completely took me out of the game. This was really different in previous games where the puzzles tied in to events more directly. When I finished God of War 3 which I played non stop I was so excited and happy. Finishing this one did not do the same at all. It was more like sadness to realize that Kratos had been raped and stripped of all his awesomeness. If you haven't played this game yet then please don't. You are better off replaying the previous games.